For 40 years Priscilla Warner suffered from anxiety attacks so debilitating she could barely breathe. Finally, while on an extended book tour for her best-selling book, The Faith Club, she had an epiphany at 30,000 feet. In the skies over Oklahoma, she vowed to find her inner monk and meditate her way from panic to peace.
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Larchmont author, historian, and former Ringling Brothers clown Dave Carlyon, takes a fresh look at Abraham Lincoln's famous words in an engrossing and entertaining lecture called "Gettysburg Adress: Politics & Performance."
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As he did so masterfully in his New York Times bestseller, The Gatekeepers, Jacques Steinberg creates a compelling portrait of people obsessed with reaching a life-defining goal. In this instance, the target is an Ironman triathlon-a 2.4-mile open-water swim followed by a 112-mile bike ride, then finally a 26-mile marathon run, all of which must be completed in no more than seventeen hours.
Steinberg focuses not on the professionals who live off the prize money and sponsorships but on a handful of triathletes who regard the sport as a hobby. Vividly capturing the grueling preparation, the suspense of completing each event of the triathlon, and the spectacular feats of human endurance, Steinberg plumbs the physical and emotional toll as well as the psychological payoff on the participants of the Ford Ironman Arizona 2009. His You Are an Ironman is both a riveting sports narrative and a fascinating, behind-the scenes study of what makes these athletes keep going..
Jacques Steinberg has been a staff reporter for the New York Times for more than ten years and currently is a national education correspondent. In 1998 he was awarded the grand prize of the Education Writers Association for his nine-part series on a third-grade classroom on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
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From Larchmont native to radical Islamist ... come follow her transformational journey!
How did Margaret Marcus, born a Jew in Larchmont, New York become 'reborn' as Maryam Jameelah a radical Islamist? Deborah Baker read from and discussed "The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism." her riveting biography of a most passionate woman who rejected her upper middle class mores, abandoned her country and faith, and accepted a life of exile in Pakistan.The Friends of the Larchmont Public Library inaugurated its 2011-12 Sunday Speakers series on September 18th in the Garden Room at Larchmont Temple. The initial program will featured readings by local poets and writers whose works were selected for publication in The Westchester Review. Published annually, the magazine celebrates both established and emerging authors who have lived, studied or worked in Westchester County.
Please Join the Friends for a presentation by Rolling Stones historian Bill German author of "UNDER THEIR THUMB: How a Nice Boy from Brooklyn Got Mixed Up with THE ROLLING STONES"
Under Their Thumb chronicles how the author befriended the Rolling Stones when he was a teenager and became the band's official historian for the next two decades. He traveled the world with them, stayed at their homes, and witnessed their concerts, recording sessions, and in-fights.
For an inside look at AIG and the financial panic of 2008, don't miss former Larchmont resident and Village Board member Jim Millstein who will speak on Sunday, April 3, at 4 pm in the Village Center. As Chief Restructuring Officer of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Jim faced the daunting task of tackling the wreckage of American International Group when he went to Washington in the summer of 2009. Amply armed with long experience as a bankruptcy lawyer, the former head of Lazar's restructuring practice oversaw a transformation of AIG that has paved the way for the government's exit, potentially at a huge profit. As New York state banking superintendent Richard Neiman put it, "Jim has brought a strong set of skills that has well served the taxpayer and public."
Please join us on Sunday, March 6, at 4 pm, at the Village Center for a screening and discussion of the Emmy-award winning documentary, Out In the Silence: Love, Hate, and a Quest for Change in Small-Town America, a sensitive and piercing look at the destructive affects of homophobia on young people around the country. The film documents the firestorm that erupted when director Joe Wilson announced his same-sex wedding in the local newspaper of a conservative rural community in western Pennsylvania.
Subsequently contacted by the mother of a local boy who was being tormented by his peers, Wilson and his partner and co-director Dean Hamer documented the hazing and bullying that plagued this 16-year- old athlete after he announced he was gay. Both Hamer and Wilson will be on-hand after the screening to answer questions about their timely film. Says Wilson: "We need to figure out ways to support people who live in small towns and communities and help them to create places where everybody is treated with dignity and respect."
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On Sunday, January 9th Susan Bell, read from her book When the Getting was Good, the entertaining story of a woman who is implicated in a trading scandal, captures what it was like to work on Wall Street in the 1980s.
On November, 14th, Eric Pooley, deputy editor of Bloomberg Businessweek and former editor of Fortune magazine, read from his book “The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers and the Fight to Save the Planet.” The book is about the political battle over what to do about global warming, and The New York Times says it’s “…a fascinating, if depressing, look at how Washington works — or doesn’t work, if your goal is meaningful laws limiting the human impact on climate.”
A performance by M&M Productions of Neil Simon’s Jake’s Women take place on Sunday, December 5, at 4 pm at the Village Center. Simon’s wildly funny foray into modern relationships centers around a novelist in his fifties who is conflicted about the women in his life—his daughter, his sister, his shrink, and his wives, numbers one and two.
New York Times reporter Alan Schwarz spoke on September 30 about the dangers of concussions to young athletes at the first of five events sponsored by the Friends of Larchmont Public Library, a non-profit group that sponsors cultural programming for the library.
Mr. Schwarz is best known for exposing the severity of sports-related concussions, particularly the connection between injury to NFL players and early-onset dementia. But he has also reported extensively on the dangers of brain injuries in high school football and other youth sports, including girls' soccer and basketball. Mr. Schwarz has received the George Polk Award, the AP Sports Editors Award, and the 2010 Deadline Club Award for Sports Journalists. As a result of his reporting, the NFL now runs public service announcements warning of the dangers of concussions to young athletes and numerous state legislatures have begun enacting laws to keep players safe.
On October 24, Nick Smart, Chairman of the English Department at the College of New Rochelle, spoke on the lyrics and poetry of Bob Dylan. Dr. Smart had been a student of Dylan's work since his days in the doctoral program at New York University. A scholar of British prose and poetry from 1890 to 1950, Dr. Smart drew parallels between the bard of Greenwich Village and writers including John Keats and Virginia Woolf.
Jonathan Tropper, a Westchester author, read from his best-selling novel "This Is Where I Leave You," on November 7. Based in a fictional Hudson Valley suburb named Elmsbrook, "This Is Where I Leave You" tells the story of the return home of four grown siblings following the death of their father. Mr. Tropper, 40, has emerged on the publishing and Hollywood screenwriting scenes by presenting portraits of the contemporary American male. In addition to reading from the novel, Mr. Tropper spoke about creating characters, transforming them for film and his amusing experiences on a national book tour.
On Thursday, May 6th, Sarah Blake read from and discussed her latest New York Times best-seller, The Postmistress. Born in New York City, Sarah Blake is the author of a book of poems, Full Turn, an artist book, Runaway Girls, in collaboration with the artist, Robin Kahn, and two novels. Her first novel, Grange House, was named a “New and Noteworthy” paperback in August, 2001, by The New York Times. Her second novel, The Postmistress, was published by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam in February 2010. Her essays and reviews have appeared in Good Housekeeping, US News and World Report, The Chicago Tribune and elsewhere. Ms. Blake taught high school and college English for many years in Colorado and New York. She has taught fiction workshops at the Fine Arts Works Center in Provincetown, MA, The Writer’s Center, in Bethesda MD, The University of Maryland, and The George Washington University. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, the poet Joshua Weiner, and their two sons.
On Sunday, April 25, the Friends hosted the launch of the fourth edition of The Westchester Review, a compilation of poetry, essays, and fiction by established and emerging writers who live or work in Westchester County. Publisher JoAnn Terdiman explained how the journal was born: "There are so many gifted writers here in the county," I said to my daughter. "Wouldn't it be something if there were a journal for the many voices of Westchester?" We looked at each other and said, "Why not?"
On Sunday, April 11 at 4pm, there was a discussion about a national grass–roots movement that is taking root in our community. Older residents are designing support systems that will enable them to remain independent in their own homes for as long as possible. Join Valerie O'Keeffe, Supervisor, Town of Mamaroneck, Lynn Reichgott, President, At Home on the Sound, Rob Waldman, President, Center for Aging in Place Support, and Lois Steinberg, Ph.D., At Home on the Sound, participated.
On Sunday, March 7, The Friends hosted Lois Sherr Dubin, author of the world’s definitive guide for bead lovers, collectors, and scholars--The History of Beads, From 100,000 B.C. to the Present. Recently updated, this bible of beads includes an eight-page gatefold timeline, full-color maps, and dozens of photographs that guide readers through the remarkably rich history of the world’s first adornment and one of the earliest media communication systems. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Lois has collected and researched beads for over 50 years. Her international practice in this field has enabled her to travel widely and obtain beads from many countries.
On Sunday February 28, the Friends of the Larchmont Public Library sponsored a discussion with Larchmont's Peter Kaplan, former editor of The New York Observer and currently creative director of Condé Nast Traveler about the future of newspapers and magazines as we know and love them--the old-fashioned ones made from trees.
On Sunday, January 31, 2010, the Friends of the Larchmont Public Library sponsored a free concert featuring violinists Kensho and Kisho Watanabe and their string quartet. This marks the sixth straight year the brothers performed in Larchmont. The Watanabe brothers, who studied at Yale and Juilliard, are members of the Yale Symphony Orchestra. Kensho, who is the concertmaster at Yale, has performed at Alice Tully Hall and the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall. Kisho, whose musical sensitivity is breathtaking, has also performed widely.
On Sunday January 10, 2010, NBC sportscaster and golf specialist Jimmy Roberts read from his new book Breaking the Slump: How Great Players Survived Their Darkest Moments in Golf - And What You Can Learn from Them. Roberts is an Emmy award winning sports reporter who has covered tennis at Wimbledon, football, and the Olympics and is NBC's interviewer for golf coverage. Breaking the Slump came out of his own frustration with the game and his realization that all good players have gone through a period of despair. In it he interviews almost everyone on his wish list of great players past and present.
On November 8, New Yorker writer Alec Wilkinson discussed his new book, The Protest Singer, a biography of Pete Seeger. When he approached the legendary singer to write the book, Seeger wanted a book that could be read in one sitting. And according to the review in the New York Times, Alec Wilkinson "has met that challenge, producing a slim, laser-sharp portrait of an artist and activist who has changed the lives of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and millions of people who have lifted their voices to join him in song."
On Sunday October 18, M&M Productions performed scenes from Neil Simon's The Good Doctor. In the play, Neil Simon has deftly woven together a parody of the life and works of Anton Chekhov into a laugh-out-loud masterpiece--replete with conniving con artists, sly seducers and ridiculous slapstick. The stories are droll, the portraits affectionate, the humor both infectious and heartwarming.
On Sunday October 4, Alice Eve Cohen read from her new book, What I Thought I Knew, which chronicles her initially-anguished response to an unexpected pregnancy at the age of 44. The memoir was selected by O, the Oprah Magazine, as one of the 25 best books of the summer.
On Sunday September 13 at 4 PM, Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan and a former Wall Street trader, talked on a number of far-reaching topics, including the economic collapse and the Obama administration’s response to the recession.
On Sunday, April 19, the Friends sponsored a reading by established and emerging writers and poets whose work was published in the 3rd edition of the Westchester Review this spring.
On Sunday, March 29, Larchmont’s distinguished opera scholar Bridget Paolucci treated us to a lecture on Puccini's Tosca. This was her final lecture for the library, where she has spoken for more than 20 years. Paolucci is a frequent intermission speaker and panelist on the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts.
Acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann joined the Friends on Sunday, March 1, to read from his new book, The Lost City of Z. Called a “masterpiece of narrative nonfiction,” Grann’s book attempts to solve the mystery of what happened to British explorer Percy Fawcett, who vanished after venturing into the Amazon in 1925 to find an ancient civilization. Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals, says of Grann: “His superb writing style, his skills as a reporter, his masterful use of historical and scientific documents, and his stunning storytelling ability are on full display here, producing an endlessly absorbing tale about a magical subject that captivates from start to finish.”
Lincoln Center returned to Larchmont Sunday, February 1! Violinists Kensho and Kisho Watanabe returned to Larchmont with their string quartet for the fifth straight year. The brothers, who studied for years at Juilliard, are members of the Yale Symphony Orchestra. Kensho, who is the concertmaster at Yale, has performed at Alice Tully Hall and the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall. Kisho, whose musical sensitivity is breathtaking, has also performed widely.